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August 05, 2011

Clinton Cards Deploys Wireless Network based on Aruba MOVE Architecture
By Anshu Shrivastava
TMCnet Contributor

Aruba Networks (News - Alert) has announced that U.K. based Clinton Cards, a retailer of greetings cards, plush merchandise (soft toys) and related products, has deployed a wireless network based on the Aruba Mobile Virtual Enterprise (MOVE) architecture to ease and speed its stores time-to-market and drive inventory control processes.



At all of its retail outlets, Clinton Cards has deployed the Aruba Virtual Branch Networking (VBN) solution. Moreover, its headquarters is also outfitted with an Aruba wireless network.

 “We find that the Aruba VBN solution is very easy to install and use. With 810 stores, none of which have independent IT departments, that simplicity of deployment is critical,” said Chris Hill, head of IT Engineering at Clinton Cards.

Leveraging a family of compact and affordable Remote Access Points (RAPs), Aruba VBN handles wide-area network (WAN) access, IPSec tunneling, firewall policy enforcement, and other functions that have traditionally required expensive appliances and WAN links.

The retailer has deployed products from the Aruba VBN portfolio in each location, where a single access point connects a Psion handheld scanner back to a local server, and the server then uploads stock data back to the corporate headquarters over an aDSL line. Company officials said that the corporate headquarters hosts two Aruba 3000 series controllers in a master-local configuration.

It has around 8,000 to 10,000 employees -- with seasonal variations. The stores range widely in size, from a typical 1,900 square-foot shop to over 50 stores that each trade in approximately 4,000 square feet. Company officials said that with about 650 Clinton Cards branded stores and over 170 Birthdays branded stores, inventory control is a top priority.

Thanks to moving away to an automated stock management system from a manual, company has been able to reduce excess stock in its stores, ensure tighter control of stocking and reduce the amount of time taken in stock checking.

Company officials said that the deployment of a wireless network at each of its remote stores supporting the stock management system has given Clinton Cards improved visibility into its business.

Hill said that Aruba VBN solution does not require extensive infrastructure at remote retail stores, and is easy for shop fitters to install without any specific technical skill.

It gives the company excellent coverage even at 2.4Ghz, with the signal penetrating several floors even in the larger stores, Hill said, adding that critically, should the WAN fail, Aruba VBN provides automatic WPA2-PSK backup, which allows them to continue local survivability.

“While inventory control is the current driver, the mobile network that Clinton Cards has installed could serve as the basis for everything from voice over IP to in-store customer engagement in the future,” said Chris Kozup (News - Alert), senior director of marketing at Aruba Networks.

Aruba Networks is a provider of next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise. Last month, the company announced significant expansion of its secure mobility offerings by introducing Suite B cryptography on the Aruba Mobility Controller for use in classified government and high-security enterprise networks.


Anshu Shrivastava is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Anshu’s articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Rich Steeves

 

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